Home is Where the Heart is
by Coconut1214
Summary: Juliet's spent six years trying to get off the island and now’s she wants to find a way back. Suliet.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: She's spent six years trying to get off the island and now's she wants to find a way back.

* * *

"Home is not where you live, but where they understand you" – Christian Morgenstern

* * *

**Home is where the Heart is**

Ch 1

The image of James' grief stricken face was burned in her unconscious mind. A loud clanging sound brings her mind back into consciousness and with it came the pain, real pain, physical pain, aching, throbbing. She opens her eyes and it takes a few seconds for her mind to register what had happened. She was alive, eighty stories and she survived. She raises one of her hands in the air; it was shaking she cries out in agony. She begs to be taken, to let it end. It was like she was somewhere between death and a nightmare. _Is this my punishment?_ She asks. Her eyes move to left and she sees it, the bomb lying there as if it had fell on gently on a mattress instead of solid rock. Somehow it avoided detonating on impact. Hydrogen bombs were not stable when taken out of their casings. It was as if the island had made a cushion for it but didn't award her the same satisfaction. She had finally found happiness after three years of misery and she had to let it all go and now she was going to die slowly, painfully and alone. _Was she really that bad of person that the island thought this is what she deserved?_

She suddenly knows what she has to do. She has to finish what they started or all of it would be for nothing. If she was going to give up everything, James and never seeing Rachel again. Then she was going to go out with a bang. She rolls over with pain shooting through her entire body. She coughs up the blood that she could feel pooling in her lungs. She grabs a rock and brings it up in the air and smashes it down, again and again until she sees nothing but white light.

* * *

She feels herself being pulled in different directions like she had fallen in the ocean and the waves kept crashing over, pulling her down. _Was she in hell?? _She thinks as the pain was becoming unbearable. She felt as if her body was twisting itself in knot. _Was she going to spend eternity suffering for all the bad things she's done_? Is the last thought she has before the darkness overtakes her.

* * *

She was walking towards the door when she saw a bright flash of light shoot out from underneath it. She ran towards the door and pulled it open. She sucked in her breath when she saw the body of a woman lying on the floor. The pendulum continued swinging back and forth inches from her body. She runs to the woman. She was lying curled up with her legs at odd angles and her left arm outstretched with her hand in a tight fist. Her red shirt was stained with blood and her face was battered and bruised.

She kneels down beside the woman and slowly brought her hand forward to her neck and felt the faint trace of a pulse; she wipes the woman's blond hair from her face. Eloise Hawking fell backwards and let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. She knew the woman. She was from the island; she was with Daniel in 1954. _But how did she get here? And how come she looks exactly the same?_

The woman's groans startling her out of her thoughts. Her eyes open and they were the bluest eyes she had ever seen. She watched as the woman tried to speak through her pain. "…Where…am…I?"

"Los Angeles" Eloise replies as the woman's eyes close again and is silent.

She called some of her people down to the room with a stretcher. This woman needed to go to the hospital but she couldn't have the paramedics coming down here. She needed the woman to survive because she needed to find out who she was.

Tbc…

* * *

A/N: I know yet another story. I can't help it I keep getting ideas in my head. This one is going to be more about Juliet (obivously it's going to be about Sawyer as well) but the chapters will be more Juliet centered. Let me know if I should continue this one or abandon it to focus on my other three stories.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: Juliet Burke spent six years trying to get off the island and now's she wants to find a way back.

* * *

"Home is not where you live, but where they understand you" – Christian Morgenstern

* * *

**Home is where the Heart is**

**Ch 2**

The images around her blurred drifting in and out, she tried to focus; every bump she feels sends the pain resonating up her body waking her up. Now bright white lights filled her vision and she could feel herself being pushed. She moved the fingers on her right hand slightly and beneath them she could feel _a mattress?_ _They have mattresses in hell?_ _No, she wasn't in hell…Los Angles…California…"_

She tries to listen to the voices but they sound muffled as she tries to remain alert. A woman walks by with a cup of coffee, a woman that looked familiar. Juliet watches her until she disappears down the hallway and her mind goes black again.

"What is your relation to the woman?" The nurse asks her.

"No relation, I found her and brought her in." She tries to say as calmly as she can, sometimes she wondered if they even listened when people talked to them or just followed a script of questions on the sheet in front of them. "I found her when I walked into the church, she must have crawled there. The poor woman must have been attacked" She says making her voice higher to appear worried and scared. "She kept going in and out of consciousness so I couldn't ask her any questions" She already told them all this when she brought the woman in over an hour ago. "I didn't find any identification either." Eloise says trying really hard not to break the sweet old woman act she was playing. "Since the poor dear has no one, I would like to wait...to see that she's alright" She needed to find who she was and how she got off the island.

"Fine" the nurse says waving her hand and Eloise moves away as the next person in line moves up to talk the overworked nurse.

Eloise hated hospital waiting rooms they felt so fake and unwelcoming despite them trying to make it welcoming. The plastic chairs were anything but comfortable. But she supposed if you waiting on news of the fate of your loved one you wouldn't really be paying attention to the decor. She resigned her self and tried to drink her tea out of a paper cup; it tasted horrible.

"What are you still doing here?" A voice spoke to her. She looked up to see Penelope Widmore standing above her. "I told you we do not want anything do with any of you anymore" Eloise just looked at the young woman, who looked nothing like her father. His face was made of stone hers was soft and kind.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Hawking?" a Doctor said from behind them. Eloise and Penny both turn to face her. "My name is Dr. Torres and I was told that you would like to be notified of her condition?"

"That is correct" She said to her.

"Oh, my. I'm embarrassed now. You are here for someone else" Penny says with her hand covering her mouth. "I'm so sorry...I thought. I'm sorry"

"It's ok, dear" Eloise says and Penny turns and walks away from them. Eloise turns her attention back to the Doctor.

"She made out of the surgery just fine, she's a strong woman" The Doctor tells her. "She does have some head trauma which caused what we call retrograde amnesia so she doesn't remember anything that happened to her or what her name is." The Doctor pauses and Eloise just nods her head. "With the extent of her injuries and the trauma she appears to have gone through we can't tell right now if it's temporary or permanent"

Eloise once again nods her head at the doctor's pause. Amnesia is not what she wanted to hear that made things more difficult as she had many questions for the woman.

The doctor with a knowing look in her eyes the doctor continues. "Am I correct in saying you found her like this…" The doctor flips through the papers on the clip board. "At a church?"

"Yes" Eloise answers.

"I am wondering how she got there, because from her injuries it appears she was pushed off something or fell"

Eloise brings her hands to her mouth. "The poor dear" she says.

Dr. Torres shakes her head sadly. "Does she come to the church often?"

"I don't know, this is the first time I've ever seen her, I don't know what happened" Eloise tells her. "I'm sorry I can't tell you more"

The doctor just nods. "That's ok, she's lucky you found her. Although her injuries are not as severe as we thought left unattended it could have been much worse" The doctor puts the clip board under her arm. "She's resting in her room right now" The doctor continues. "If you would like to stay that's fine with me. But you don't have too we can take it from here and work on finding out who she is so we can contact her family"

"Thank you" Eloise says looking at the doctor kindly and turning around. She sighs and picks her up her paper cup and throws it in the trash bin.

"Mrs. Hawking?"

"Yes" she replies turning around to see a nurse standing there.

"The woman you brought in. She's asking for you?"

"Me, how?"

"I…I don't know…I told her she just came had surgery and she needed to rest" The nurse says "But she said…she said she rest is for the weak and right now she would like to speak to the woman that brought her in"

Eloise smiles slightly it appears she might like this woman.

* * *

Juliet looks around her hospital room a real hospital room in a real hospital. She looks at the room number on the door. _815 _She would laugh if it didn't hurt so much. She was home; she was back in the real world. She somehow she made it off the island through a teleportation portal; she had thought the Orchid was only one. _Rachel_ she says to herself and tries to hold back her tears. She was home she could finally see Rachel, but what would she tell her?

She shifts slightly but that was wrong thing to do as the pain shoots up her body. She clamps her mouth shut tightly to not make any sounds. She didn't want them running back in here. She needed to talk to that woman and find out who she was. And she needed to find out if blowing up the bomb worked.

Eloise walks into the room slowly and sees her lying on the hospital bed. Despite being cleaned up she didn't look any better. Both of her legs were in plaster casts up to her knees, she had a heavy bandage stretched across her head and one on her cheek. Her left arm was bandaged up to her elbow and left hand was in plaster too. Her face was pale and she had deep dark circles around her eyes. Eloise noticed her eyes more than anything else they glowed brightly like beacons at an airport. They were clear and focused even with the drugs undoubtedly pumping through her body. The woman's eyes followed her to the chair next to her bed. They were both silent until the nurse left the room. When she speaks her voice is strong and calm.

"Who are you?" she asks.

"My name is Eloise Hawking" She doesn't fail to notice the recognition in the woman's eyes. "You know who I am?"

"Yes"

"I was told you have retrograde amnesia" Eloise says sitting up straight and crossing one leg over the other with both her hands resting one knee, like a proper Englishwoman. One that they both know she wasn't.

"I convinced them I have amnesia. Most of my injuries are posterior so damage to my temporal lope would be common with the trauma my body has gone through." She says. "I can't tell them who I am, not yet. Not until I find out what's going on."

Eloise is impressed that she was able to make up a story like that with the pain she must be in. The woman had medical knowledge that much she gathered from the way she described her injuries.

"How do you know me?" Eloise asks, she hated not knowing what was happening. She had done what she was supposed to do. Her knowledge of the future had ended there.

"We didn't really get a chance to meet in 1954 but I was there with your son" Juliet says to her. She wasn't ready to tell this woman everything she needed to get a better read on her first.

"You knew Daniel was my son?"

"No at that time, he wasn't very forthcoming in the beginning." She replies.

"Who are you?"Eloise asks.

"First I need you tell me about Flight 815?" She asks hoping she wouldn't know about it or everything they did was for nothing. When she asked the nurses what year it was she was told 2007.

"Are you one of the survivors?" She asks.

"No" she says sadly she got her answer. It didn't work flight 815 still crashed on the island. And all she did was send her self off the island and to the correct time. But what did that mean for James and the rest? They were standing above her, did she kill them? No she couldn't have the bomb would've killed her first. _What did she do?_

Eloise watched the woman's face fall she no longer had the stoic calmness she had when she first entered the room. That was something they had in common. This woman was trained to keep her face an unreadable mask. But the moment she asked her question the mask fell away to show so much sorrow, her eyes closed and her head rolled to the side. She sucked in her breath and gritted her teeth as if she were in pain.

"Do you need me to get the nurse?" she asks

"No" She replies softly the mask goes back on. "Flight 815 still crashed on the island, we didn't change anything" she says to herself softly. Juliet looks sadly at Eloise she couldn't imagine knowing when you were pregnant that you were going to eventually kill your child. She and James talked briefly about children, they both wanted a child someday but living in the 70's wasn't the right time. She didn't blame Eloise for wanting to change everything. She was given a chance to change it because her insecurities got the best of her. She saw James look at Kate when Rose talked about being with the one you love is all that matters. She thought that meant he still loved her and maybe he does. "Since being on the island, I started to believe anything was possible. I'm alive when I shouldn't be" She tells her. She knew now that James loves her too, but now it may be too late.

"What happened?" Eloise asks, she didn't know what happened after she showed those men how to get out of the cave. Richard had hit her over the head to protect her. All she knew is that the Dharma Initiative had called it the Incident. She didn't know what that entailed.

"The doctors probably told you my injuries appear to be from a fall" she says and Eloise nods her head. "I did fall. A metal chain wrapped around my abdomen and I was dragged down an eighty story shaft by an electromagnet, from there I blew up the hydrogen bomb with a rock...then I woke up in Los Angeles with you."

She looks to the young woman that had come from the island, a woman that had traveled through time and she found that rather fascinating but wasn't going to show it. Eloise was very good at reading people it was a something she had learned after she had shot Daniel. She needed to know the person before anything else could be done. She wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. But this woman was different her mask only slipped once and that was because she failed to change what she wanted. This woman knew more than she was telling that much she could see.

"Did you think you could change the course of time itself with a...bomb?" Eloise asks her. That's what they told her after she had shot her son in 1977. They told her that a bomb would erase everything from happening and she would not have shot her future son. But back then she was young and pregnant so her emotions were not entirely her own. She found out she was pregnant and a month later she kills him as an adult. She tried to change things herself by leaving the island and never returning, but it proved useless since she did that in her past. She was always going to kill her only son and she was the one that would send him to his death to make sure everything happened exactly the same.

"If you are not one of the survivors then who are you?" Eloise asks after the woman regains her composure. Eloise was still skeptical. This woman had somehow teleported off the island to the Lamppost station which was unheard of. The only teleportation device was deep in the Orchid station and that took you to Tanzania. Not to Los Angeles.

Juliet looks at her unsure if she should tell her everything. Was she still loyal to the people on the island? She didn't know her but if she thought she was one of them she might be more willing to help. And she needed her, she wouldn't even be able to walk on her own, let alone do any of things she needed to do. She needed help finding Rachel and Julian and she needed to get back to the island, to James. She needed to know if he was ok and Eloise Hawking was the only one that could get her back there. "My name is Juliet Burke, Richard Albert brought me to island"

Her face registers shock for half a second. "Richard" she repeats. She wasn't expecting to hear that name. Now she was skeptical, _how did this woman know Richard?_

"That's right" Juliet says taking a deep breath she only needed to say one thing to convince Eloise she was one of them. "I am one of Remetch en Wadjet"

Eloise's eyes locked with hers at the sound of that name. Not much shocked her but this woman managed to shock her three times in one day. No one knew that name but them. She was one of them, one of her people. "When did Richard bring you to the island?"

"In 2001, this is why I can't tell them who I am. It's going to be hard to explain to the cops where I've been for the past six years, especially if I don't know what he told them."

Eloise looks at her. "Why were you on the island?"

'I'm a fertility doctor and something happened on the island that made all the women unable to carry to term" She tells her and then sighs. "I was there because Ben wanted me there"

"Ben?" Eloise asks with a slight hint of annoyance in her voice.

The nurse had come in after that and they had to wait until morning to finish their conversation. Juliet was glad for the morphine or she would not have been able to rest. Her mind was racing with questions and a need to find Rachel. But she had to get out of the hospital first.

__

The next morning Eloise came in and handed a box to her. Juliet looks at her then opens the box in it she finds a cell phone. "You didn't have..." she starts.

"I need a way to contact to you, unless you plan on staying with me?" the older woman asks her. Juliet looks at her again. "I didn't think so, I'm sure you have family you want to see after not seeing them for six years" Juliet stops looking at the phone and raises her eyes to Eloise. "You told me your name, so I looked you up. And you might want to as well to find out how you're going to explain your reappearance to your sister. Press the compass icon to open the Internet"

Juliet rests the phone up against her bandaged hand and press the icon. "It's fast" she says amazed "I guess I missed a lot of technological updates in the past six years" She types in her name and pulls up an article detailing the horrific plane crash she died in. She should've known that Ben had no intention of ever letting her leave. He made sure everyone thought she was dead. She hangs her head sadly. Rachel thought she was dead, how was she going to explain to her that she wasn't. Ben would always find ways to make her life more difficult.

"I figured you'd want to know what else has been happening in the world since you left" Eloise says to her.

Juliet then types in "Oceanic Flight 815" to see articles pop up about the Oceanic Six. She opens a video of a press conference where she sees. Jack, Kate, Aaron, Hurly, Sun and Sayid sitting at a table being asked questions. Her mouth drops open as she hears what they are they are saying. They lied, they said they were the only survivors and everyone else died. "They never had any intention of coming back" she says out loud. She drops the phone and lies back against the bed. She couldn't believe it. James spent three years waiting for them and they were just going to leave them there. She couldn't look at the screen but she could still hear their voices. "Why did they come back?" She asks out loud.

"Ben" Eloise replies.

She lets out a small laugh. "Of course, it was Ben". Ben had left the island as well; he was the one that made them go through the time flashes.

"I have also taken care of your medical bills" Eloise says breaking the silence.

"You don't have to that" Juliet says.

"Do you have money?" Eloise asks her and she looks at her, she did have a point. "You are one of my people and we take care of each other."

Juliet smiles trying to hide her guilt but then remembering that these people had none. "Thank you, I'll pay you back when...when I get an identity" she tells her.

The woman she saw earlier pops into her head, she knew her. _Penny, Desmond's Penny. _The conversation she had with Daniel three years ago also popped into her head. But she had to be sure. Maybe this _was_ meant to happen. "Did I see Penny Widmore? Is Desmond here?"She asks.

Eloise narrows her eyes. "She is here, her husband was shot"

"By Ben"

Eloise laughs now. "That's most likely the case" If she knew about Ben's rivalry with Charles then she must have been pretty high up among them Eloise thinks to herself.

"I need to speak to Desmond"

Tbc...

* * *

A/N: "Remetch en Wadjet" is Egyptian for "The People of the Green Land". Since Lost has Egyptian mythology hints in the show. The Island is green and to the Egyptians Green means new life or rebirth. Which has also been hinted at since S1. The island is a place for a new life.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: Juliet Burke spent six years trying to get off the island and now's she's trying to find a way back.

* * *

"Home is not where you live, but where they understand you" – Christian Morgenstern

* * *

**Home is Where the Heart is**

**Chapter 3**

Eloise stands outside the door and sighs. She walks into the room and prepares herself for their comments. "Calm down Mrs. Hume, I'm not here for me" Penny was sitting on one chair while Charlie was sitting on another drawing. Desmond pushed himself to sitting a position when she entered.

"Who are you here for then?" Penny asks standing up.

"The woman I brought in here she says she knows you and would like to speak with you." She says to Desmond "Her name is Juliet Burke"

Desmond's eyes go wide. "Juliet is here…with you…she got off the island?"

"You know her…this woman?" Penny asks her husband as she rises and goes to his bedside.

"Yes" He tells her. "If she's here, I'd like to see her"

Eloise nods. It was easier than she expected. "I don't think she's stable enough to move right now, so you will have to come to us"

Desmond was confused now. "What happened to her?" he asks.

"You'll see she is in room 815" Eloise tells them and walks out of the room.

She remembered seeing Desmond's smile when she brought him to see the helicopter, the whole trek there he didn't believe her. She and Desmond had a lot in common they had both spent three years on the island and they both had loved ones they were desperately trying to get back too. Of course she knew about him a lot longer then he knew her. She watched him once from the Flame station going about his daily routine of waking up, showering, eating and exercising all the while leaving time to push the buttons every hundred and eight minutes. She wanted to tell him to stop but Ben had told her the importance of pushing the buttons and its better he was down there doing it then one of them.

Eloise walked into the room and nodded at her. She smiled weakly knowing that Desmond was not going to like what she had to say, but she needed to she promised him.

Penny pushes Desmond into the room and smiles when he sees her. She sees a young blonde boy holding to the arm of the wheel chair.

"This is Charlie" Desmond tells her.

Juliet smiles "That's a good name" she tells him. She didn't know Charlie well but she knew if it wasn't for his sacrifice none of them would've made it off the island.

"You got off the island too" He says looking at her bandaged up body. "How?" he asks concerned.

"I fell" she replies.

Penny and Desmond both look at her. "You fell off the island?" Penny asks skeptically Desmond smiles knowing well enough that Juliet responds to everything with sarcasm.

"Yes" She heard Eloise's small laugh from behind her. "I'm sorry; I'm just trying to lighten the mood. In reality I teleported"

Penny tilts her head, each way Juliet tells them sounded more and more outlandish. She didn't know what to think, she didn't know this woman. But she could see that Desmond did because he was smiling. So she'd just have to trust that Desmond trusted this woman.

"I can't believe you're here" Desmond says to her

"I didn't think you'd be happy to see me" she says to him.

Desmond looks at her; they really didn't know each other that well. The only time they really talked was on trek to the helicopter. "I know you wanted to get off the island…I'm…I'm sorry you were left behind"

Juliet nods "Turns out it was one of the best things that happened to me" she tells him with a smile and he looks at her confused. "That's for another day, that's not why I wanted to see you"

"Why did you want to see him?" Penny asks her not sure if they should trust her. Her demeanor reminded her of Eloise who was calmly watching everything in the chair in the corner.

She takes a deep breath. "Well you're not going to like me when I ask you this"

"Why?" he asks.

She's unsure how to ask him this, like her he wanted nothing more to do with the island. But she needed to go back to see what she did, she needed to go back for James and he needed to go back. She wasn't sure why but she knew he needed too. "Because…I need you to come back to the island with me"

"What?" Penny and Desmond say in unison and Eloise perks her head up from where she was sitting.

"The island is not done with us and I got off so I can bring you back"

Eloise stares at Juliet and smiles; they both had the same mission to get Desmond back to the island.

"I don't know how we will get back, which is where I hope you can help us" She says turning to look at Eloise. "You helped Jack and the rest get back"

"I did, it's not that easy we have to wait for the right time" Eloise replies.

"I figured" Juliet replies. "Which I hope gives me enough time to see my sister" she says feeling the tears welling up in her eyes." But I have no way of getting to Miami, it's not like I can get on a plane when I supposed to be dead."

Penny looks at the woman who says she's here to bring Desmond back to that awful place that made them miss three years of each other's lives. She seems like a good person and she could see that she missed her sister. "How long were you on the island?" Penny asks.

"Six years" Juliet replies.

"You haven't seen your sister in six years?"

Juliet nods her head sadly. Thinking about Rachel was making the pain worse. "It seems you will have time to think about it Desmond. But I hope you will consider coming back with me"

"Why do you want to go back?" He asks.

"Because I did something and I need to know what happened. I need do know that everyone's ok " Desmond looks at her concerned. "In the three years you've been gone, so much has changed and we wanted to change it even more… so I need to know what we did and I never thought I'd say this once I succeed in getting back to the real world. I need to get back to the island to do that and you need to come with me."

"Why?"

"Because I feel it as though… I only can if you are with me…and I know that's putting you in a tough spot but as I said the island is not done with us."

"I swore I'd never go back to that place, Juliet" Desmond tells her.

Juliet closes her eyes in understanding. "I wouldn't ask you to if it wasn't important" she looks Desmond in the eyes hoping he'd see that she didn't want to talk about it front of Eloise.

Desmond sighs. "I'm sorry…I can't" he says turning his wheel chair around and leaves her room with Penny following him.

She really hoped he got her message otherwise there was nothing more she could do.

"That went about as well as I when I asked him" Eloise says to her and she just nods.

She turned when she heard footsteps coming back towards them. Penny stands in the doorway and sighs. "We have a boat" Juliet raises her eyes to look at her. "We have boat we can take you to your sister."

"You would do that for me even though I'm asking your husband to go back to the place you rescued him from?" She asks.

"I can see you want to see your sister, so yes I will help with that."

Juliet nods "Thank you" Desmond must have got her message so for that she was grateful.

After they leave she turns to Eloise.

"The room you landed in has a pendulum that locates the position of the island, without the Sub it could take days, months or years for it to locate it and for us to find a way to get there. The window of opportunity is very small. You have to be ready to leave as soon as find it" Eloise tells her.

Juliet sighs, she knew the Sub had a built in radar to find the island from Ann Arbor, other than that there was no way to get to the island. No one ever drove the Sub everyone had to be knocked out for the trip it was all automatic so no one knew the exact coordinates of the island at any given time. So she just nods her understanding.

"I'd like to go with you" Eloise says to her. Juliet looks at her surprised. "Do you have any objections to that?"

"No, I'm not in charge of the island you can do whatever you want" Juliet tells her.

"There's a reason I was in the room when you came through, I think it was a sign telling me I have to go back"

* * *

She closed her eyes and felt the wind on her face and the slight spray of the salt water. She wished she could stand up because it was slightly annoying looking through the railings to see the ocean. But she had to get used to it she'd be in this chair for awhile. She laid her head against her chair and just relaxed.

"Do you get seasick?" She heard Penny ask her.

She opens her eyes as Penny sits down next to her, "No, I'm just enjoying it, I missed this" She says with a small smile.

"You miss sailing?"

"Yes, my father had boat and we would take it out and spend a weekend at sea. My sister and I loved sailing with him"

Penny smiles at her.

"I wanted to thank you for doing this" She tells the woman.

"Desmond told me I could trust you after all he says he wouldn't have gotten off the island if it wasn't for you. So the least we could do to make up for that is to reunite you with your sister"

"Desmond didn't tell you who I am, did he?" she asks

"What do you mean?" Penny replies.

Juliet looks towards the ground. Desmond approached them. She looks at Penny. "I was on the island because I worked with Ben"

Penny eyes go wide with shock. "What?" she says and looks at Desmond.

"Juliet, you don't…"

"I'm not going hide anymore, I'm tired of that. If she's going to help me she needs to know who I am. I'm an Other, a hostile whatever you called them. Ben was my leader and I did whatever he asked. I helped capture the survivors of Flight 815 and I helped keep you in that station pushing buttons." She sighs and looks back out towards the ocean. "I saw you and I did nothing"

Desmond looks at his wife's worried face. "She betrayed Ben and helped us defend ourselves against them. She brought me to the helicopter that brought me back to you." He looks at Juliet. "And that is was matters, Juliet"

Juliet looks at him and nods.

"I just have one more thing to say" He closes his eyes and takes a breath. "When you told me the island isn't done with me…Eloise told me the same thing"

Juliet looks over at him. "Of course she did she's…an Other"

Desmond looks at Juliet in shock.

"Do you trust her?" Desmond asks.

Juliet looks towards the ground "I don't know, but she's the only chance we have of getting back to the island"

"Why me? Why are you so adamant that I have go back and don't give me the island crap again"

"Because…Daniel Faraday told me I have to bring you back"

*********************

_1974_

_She yawned as she walked back to the barrack that the Dharma Initiative had put them in. They had been there for about a month. Horace was working on getting them houses to live in. She steps back as the doors swing open and James and Miles walk out in a huff. _

"_It's like the damn adults in the Charlie Brown cartoons" James tells her. "It's all blah, blah and he won't shut up" _

"_James, the woman he loved died in his arms." She takes a deep breath. She looked over and could see Miles is agitated too. "Why don't you two get some beers and I'll see if I can talk to him"_

"_Good luck with that" Miles tells her as they walk away. _

_She sighs and pushes the door open. Daniel was still in the same spot he was when she left that morning. She walks over and kneels besides him. "Daniel" she says to him and he just responds by rocking back and forth. _

"_I'm not gonna tell her, I'm not gonna tell her" he says over and over again. _

"_Have you eaten anything?" She asks expecting no reply. She stands up and makes him a sandwich in the small kitchen area; she fills a cup up with water and lays it on the table next to him. He was still repeating that same sentence. She kneels down again to be at his eye level. "Daniel, I need you to eat something, ok" His eye go to the sandwich than back to her. "Can you drink some water for me then?"_

_He grabs the cup and gulps it down and puts the cup back on the table. "I'm not gonna tell her" he starts up again. _

"_You're not going to tell who?" She asks she knew who he meant but she wanted to see if he could hear her. _

"_Charlotte" He answers. "I scared her…I'm the scary man" he continues. "I'm not gonna tell her"_

"_Ok" she replies. "We won't tell her" _

_Suddenly his lock on hers and it startles her because he wasn't so much as looking at her but looking through her. _

"_Desmond needs to be on the island. You need to bring him back to the island" he says. "You have to bring him back, Juliet" _

_Her heart rate increased and breathing quickened. Desmond? She says to herself. How could she bring him back them to the island?_

"_You have to promise me, Juliet. Promise me you'll bring him back" He says never taking his eyes from hers. "Juliet you are the only one that can"_

_She doesn't know what to say. Desmond got off the island and she was still here. How would she even keep that promise?_

_Daniel grabs both her shoulders and brings her closer to him. "Promise me!"_

_His eyes look so desperate and lost. She swallows and closes her eyes. "I promise" she tells him when she opens her eyes. _

"_Ok" he says and his body relaxes and he goes back to swaying. _

_************_

Tbc…


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: Juliet Burke spent six years trying to get off the island and now that she did, she's trying to find a way back.

* * *

"Home is not where you live, but where they understand you" – Christian Morgenstern

* * *

**Home is Where the Heart is**

Ch 4

They were sitting in a rented car outside a two story Spanish style house with white stucco walls and red roof tiles overlooking the beach. She saw a bike lying outside on the neatly cut grass and a blue SUV parked in the driveway. She smiled to herself this was as close to Rachel's dream house as she could get.

"What do I say to her?" She asks out loud.

"I find that the truth is the best option" Penny answered turning around in her seat to face Juliet.

"The truth" Juliet repeats. "I wouldn't believe myself if I hadn't experienced it" she replies. "Time travel, teleportation, dead people walking and smoke that can kill people those are some things you actually have to see to believe it. "

"Do you want me to go with you" Desmond offers "to collaborate your story? I was there too"

"Maybe, then I won't sound as crazy." She says with a small laugh.

"If you and your sister were as close as I'm imagining you are from the way you talk about her, the only thing that will matter to her is that you're alive" Penny says to her.

"Alive" Charlie repeats from his car seat next to her. She turns to smile at the boy. She sighs and sinks back in the seat. She was happy that it took a few months to sail here from Los Angeles because that gave her wounds some time to heal. She no longer looked like she was fell down an eighty story shaft, was crushed by a bunch of metal debris and blew up a hydrogen bomb. She held both her hands in front of her face and squeezed them, her left hand still couldn't close all the way, but it was no longer broken. The cuts on her face were still somewhat visible but they were fading. The biggest thing was she still needed a wheelchair to get around her legs were almost completely crushed by the metal, so they would take much longer to heal. She was lucky that the island had already started to heal her more serious injuries before she teleported.

"I've waited six years for this moment" she says.

"Then go see your sister" Penny tells her as Desmond gets out of the car and brings her wheelchair to her side. She opens the door and eases herself on the chair.

"Do you want me to go with?" Desmond asks.

"No, thank you but I need to this on my own" she says and Desmond nods his head in understanding.

"We'll call you when we find a hotel in case you need us" Penny says.

Juliet nods and watches Desmond get in the car and smile at her. She takes a deep breath and rolls over to the door. She closes her eyes to calm her breathing and rings the bell.

She hears a knock on the door and shakes her head at her husband who had made a stupid joke about ducks and thought it the funniest thing in the world. She turns her head and her mouth drops open and her heart all but stops at the sight in front of her. Those bright blue eyes are staring back at her, the same eyes that cried with happiness when she told her that it worked, that she was pregnant. "Juliet" she whispers before losing feeling in her legs.

Juliet watches as the door opens slowly, she could hear Rachel talking to someone. When she finally turns to face her, she watches all the color drain from her sister's face. She moves the chair quickly inside the house and catches her sister as she falls.

Rachel's eyes flutter open and she stares up at the woman. Her mouth keeps opening and closing with no sound coming out. "Juliet?" she finally manages to croak out.

"Yes, Rach. It's me" Juliet says.

"No, you're dead and I'm finally going crazy" She squeezes her eyes closed again hoping to make the hallucination go away. "I don't need this right now" she repeats to herself. "I've spend hundreds of dollars in therapy to be like this"

Juliet watches as her sister kept covering her eyes and peeking through them like she was playing peek-a-boo. "Rachel" Juliet says as her sister puts her hands over her face and repeats it again. Rachel's head was lying across her left arm she was holding it so she wouldn't hit the metal on her chair.

"No, no, you're not real" Her head keeps shakes back forth to try to get rid of the image. This was not the time to be going crazy.

Juliet gently places her hand on her sister face. "Rachel, I'm here and I'm real and you're kind of hurting of me"

Rachel looks down realizing she was still sprawled out across her lap. She jumps up and looks at the wheelchair with her sister sitting in it.

"What's going on? Who are you?" She hears a man's voice say.

She looks up and sees a man with brown hair in police uniform. "My name is Juliet…" she begins when Rachel interrupts.

"Kevin, you can see her?" Rachel asks him.

"Yes, I can see her. What happened?" He asks again concerned to see his wife looking like she's seen a ghost and asking strange question about if he can see a woman in a wheelchair in their doorway.

Rachel once again looks at the woman, she was still there "Juliet" Rachel says softly with tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She looks into the woman's eyes, they were Juliet's eyes. "Juliet" she says again walking closer to her.

"I'm real, Rachel. Believe me I'd given up hope of ever seeing you again too, but I'm real and I'm here." Juliet says with her own tears falling down her cheeks. Rachel places her hand over her younger sisters and kneels. Juliet places her other hand on top of Rachel's. Rachel pulls her hand out and leans forward to hug her and they cry on each other shoulders. When Rachel stands back up she has to wipe the tears from her eyes so she could see Juliet clearly. "How?" she asks. "They said you were dead, they said your plane crashed in the Sound and you were dead"

"I wasn't on that plane; the plane I was on was never going to Portland" Juliet tells her.

"Where was that plane going, where were you, Juliet?" Rachel asks. "Why are you in wheelchair? What happened?"

Her heart was rapidly beating against her chest as she looked at her sister. How could she tell her what she did, what she'd become.

"Why don't we invite her in and talk about this in the living room or at least inside the house" Kevin suggests.

"Right" Rachel says as Juliet rolls forward so Rachel could shut the door.

"I'm Kevin, by the way" The man says holding his hand out for Juliet to shake. "Kevin Callis"

"He's my husband" Rachel finishes for him.

"Husband" She says smiling at her sister. He had thick brown hair that stopped at the nape of his neck; he had blue eyes, kind eyes and a charming smile. She thinks about his name it sounded really familiar, but she shook her head; she didn't really care about that now. Her sister had her son, she was married and she had a house, she had a life and she was so happy for her.

A few minutes later Rachel was sitting on the couch in front of her with Kevin sitting besides her holding her hand as she told them the story.

"That company that recruited me" She begins.

"Mittelos Bioscience" Rachel says interrupting. "They were the ones that notified me of your death"

"Who did, did you get the name?"

"Richard Albert" Rachel tells her

Juliet closes her eyes and nods her head, of course it was Richard. "Mittelos Bioscience works for another group and in that group was a man that wanted me. He was the one that was holding me against my will" She was rushing through the story and she hated keeping things from her sister, but she couldn't tell Rachel about the things she's done.

"You were kidnapped!" Rachel says with her hands over her mouth.

"That was a very well throughout kidnapping" Kevin says to her.

"It was, because they did need me, the people on the island were unable to have children. The fetus' would reject the mother and kill both of them. I was kidnapped because they needed a fertility doctor"

"And you were the best" Rachel says to her.

"How did you get escape?" Rachel asks.

_I teleported by blowing up a hydrogen bomb. _How could she tell her sister that without sounding crazy? She had gotten so good at lying that they lies just came out. She couldn't tell her sister about what she had done, the person she became so she left that part out as well as the real story of her escape. She told them that a man named Desmond had crashed his boat on the island around the same time she arrived there and that he had rebuilt it and that is what they used to escape. She told them that there was a battle going on during the escape where Desmond had been shot and where she gotten her own injuries.

She told them that all she knew about the location of the island was that it was somewhere in the South Pacific which she had just found out from reading the survivor stories of Flight 815 because that is where the Oceanic Six were too. They ended up in LA where a woman found them and took them to a hospital and that's where she spent the past few months before she was well enough to find her.

Rachel ran over to her sister to hug her again. She knew Juliet was stronger then she looked but to have survived all that took some real strength.

"Mommy" a voice said from the hallway.

Juliet's head went to the doorway where a little boy was standing. Another little boy stood behind him with woman holding his hand.

"Sorry where a little late Rach" The woman said. "The boys wanted to stop at the gift shop"

"I gots a polar bear" he says holding the stuffed animal out for his mother to see.

Juliet's breath caught in her throat as she stared at him with tears forming in her eyes. He gotten so big from the last time she saw him on a grainy video feed in the Flame station. He was five now. The fact that he had a polar bear brought her thoughts back to the island but she shook it off. Her nephew was standing a few feet in front of her, the nephew she had wanted to meet since her sister told she was pregnant.

Rachel smiled at Juliet looking at her son. He wouldn't have existed it wasn't for her. She walked her friend to the door and thanked her for taking Julian to the zoo. She stood at the doorway and asked about the women in the wheelchair and she told her that she was a friend. She didn't want to lie but she did tell people that her sister was dead and she wasn't sure Juliet didn't want the exposure of being alive again quite yet.

She walked back into the room to see Kevin and Julian playing with the polar bear. Julian's attention was suddenly distracted from the polar bear and onto Juliet who was wiping the tears from her eyes. Rachel walks back over to them. "This is my son, Julian" she tells her.

Juliet looks up at Rachel; her hands were covering her mouth and nose as the tears just streamed down her face. She brought her hands together as if she was praying as she looked at the smiling blond boy making growling noises with the polar bear.

Julian turns when he hears her sniffling. He slides of the coach and walks over to her. "Who are you?" he asks.

Juliet looks to Rachel in what to say to him. Rachel nods her head. "I'm Juliet"

"Julian" he replies.

"Nice to meet you" She says with a smile.

"Why are you sad?" He asks "Is it cause your hurt?" he asks concerned.

"I'm not sad, I'm happy" She answers.

"Happy" He repeats "You're crying"

"You can cry when you're happy too" she tells him. His face contorts into confusion as he thinks about that one. Then he smiles at her, his attention then goes back to the polar bear.

Rachel smiled as her son for the first time met the woman that's responsible for him being here, his namesake. She looks back at her sister smiling at Julian and Kevin and she saw pain under that smile and knew Juliet was hiding something, she knew that story she told wasn't the complete truth.

Tbc…


End file.
